Cotton picker unit



pi 19, 1932 G; R. MEYERCORD ET AL 1,854,413

COTTON PICKER UNIT Original Filed Feb. 18, 1929 Ilm V/A mmm WwW/W iPatented Apr. 19, 1932 *UNITED ST TE GEORGE n. MEYERCORD AND oLIN H.BASQUIN, or innesco, ILLiNo1s;-SAID.BASQUKIN AssIGNon 'ro SAIDranvnnconn COTTON PICKER UNIT -Original'application led February 18,1929, Serial No.340,836. -Divided and-this"app1icationa1ed November 8,1930. Serial N0. 494,236. iRenewed March 2,- 1932.

The present invention relates to that type of cotton picking machinehaving pronged ngers and adapted to rotate first in one d1- rection andthen in the other for the purpose of withdrawing fibre from the boll andafterwards ldischarging it; and the object of the present invention isto produce a simple and durable picking element of this kind that willsuccessfully pick the cotton bre and deliver it at a receiving point,Without danger of injury to the stems or leaves of the cotton plant,

and without picking green leaves along with the cotton.

The present application is a division of our application Serial No.340,836, filed February 18, 1929.

The various features of novelty whereby our invention is characterizedwill hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the rcla-ims';but, for afull understanding of our `invention and of its objects andadvantages, reference may be had to the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figures 1 and 2 are side elevations of a pickerfunit and its bearingsleeve detached from the machine, the picker head being shown indifferent angular positions, and a ilfragment 'of'theidriving end beingshown in section in Fig. 2;- F ig. 3 is a side View of the head of thelinger showing still another angu- ,lar position; Fig. 4 is an end viewof the finger; Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 5 5 of Fig. 4E; andFig. 6 is a View on a smaller scale'than Figs. 1 to 5, partly in sectionand partly in elevation, illustrating the means I for mounting thefinger.

The finger illustrated in the drawings consists of a head 1 fixed to orintegral with one end of a cylindrical stem 2 having at the free end a'short section 3 of reduced diameter and preferably lroughenedv on thesurface. In making this particular finger, the head first takes the formof a cylindrical block. A hole `VisiV then` .drilled lengthwise of thefinger through the end of the head and another hole is drilledcrosswisethrough the head near the outer end. Two deep diagonal cuts arethen '-madethrough thelend of the head, 180 apart, fthese cu-tsextending through 'lthe cylindrical block and transforming it into twoprongsor hooks 4 pointedat their outer ends and increasing' gradually.in width toward-their inner ends or bases. As a matter of fact, the

angular width of the base of eachihook is Vapnl proximately 1800. Thustheprongs or hooks have their outer faces disposed in a. cylindricalsurface coaxial with the finger. The-free ends or points 5 ofthe yhooksare then bent the vfinger' and awayv from said cylindrical surface, andare also bent downwardly somewhat. The downward curve of' the free endsof thehooks is emphasized by cutting away the upper or outer'faces.

The picking fingers, which :arepresent 1in large numbers in acompletemachine, can be made very quickly and cheaply in the manner 4justdescribed, and yet be veryuniform in shape. rlWhenj lfinished, the headendszarej in` the form of hollowcylinders whose walls are cutaway toproduce hooks, only the-'extreme ends of the hooks being deflected awayfrom the outercylindrical surfaces ofthe fingers.

When. one of these picker fingersis m-oved f against a cotton plant andisrotatedin a directiontending to screw the hooked' prongs into anobject encountered thereby, it will be found thatthe end of the fingeracts very knob when coming in Contact with aileaf or ra stern.y However,when the finger meets a mass of fibre protruding from the boll, it ereadily enters a little way into the same 'and takes an eiective gripthereon. VVhen'the'A finger and the boll are `moved apart, whilethelingerie still rotating, the fibre will be withdrawn by the finger fromthe boll. lvTlien,

when the direction of rotation of the finger lthe cotton fis flowered.

`inwardly slightly toward the long. axis fof\.=.60

Surrounding the stem of the picker finger is a bearing sleeve 6 of amaterial that requires no oil to lubricate it, preferably hard closegrained wood boiled in paraflin to make it waterproof. There ispreferably a washerlike part of felt 7 between the inner end of the headof the picker and the adjacent end of the bearing sleeve. On the endsection 3 of the stem is itted a metal sleeve 8 adapted to engage with asuitable driving member for rotating the linger. The member 8 is a tightlit on the stem, the roughness of the surface of the part 3 of the stemcontributing to the tightness of the fit when the sleeve 8 is driven orpressed on. initially the free end of the part 3 of the stem contains arecess or depression 9, as best shown in Fig. 2, providing acomparatively thin annular flange or lip that may conveniently beexpanded, as indicated at 10 in Figs. 1 and 6, to secure a rivet effectwithout requiring the finger to be subjected to forces that might bendit.

The head of the picker linger is smaller in diameter than the bearingsleeve 6, and so is the sleeve 8. Consequently the picker linger lunitwith its bearing sleeve and operating sleeve may be completely assembledbefore being placed in the machine. Thesupport for the finger units mayhave the desired number of holes distributed according to thedistribution desired for the fingers, the holes being of a size to makethe bearing sleeves a tight fit; so that the picker units may beassembled on their ultimate supports by simply pressing the bearingsleeves into the holes provided therefor. Since the external diameter ofthe bearing sleeve is larger than the external diameter of any otherpart of the picker unit, the units may be entered into their respectiveholes from either side of the support. Furthermore, since the pickerunits are simply frictionally held in the support, any complete unit maybe pushed back upon encountering an obstruction in the field, withoutbreaking or damaging the finger. In other words, the friction betweenthe sleeve and the surrounding support is suflicient to hold the sleevestationary under normal conditions, but is not great enough to resist ablow or a thrust considerably less than that required to damage theprongs on the picker linger.

In Fig. 6, we have shown a means for mounting one of our improvedfingers; 12 representing a support in the form of a metal plate and 13and 14 representing registering bosses on opposite sides of the plate. Ahole 15' is bored 4lengthwise through the two bosses this hole being ofsuch a size that the wooden sleeve will fit tightly in the same. Inassembling the parts, the unit is forced into the opening in the supportuntil a` considerable portion of each of the prongs or hooks, at thebase of the latter, lies Within the bore or opening 15. The result isthat the prongs or hooks project only slightly from the boss and cannotreadily be injured. If a blow were struck or a heavy pressure exerted onthe picker head in the direction of the length of the picker unit, theresult would be simply to push the entire unit in until the boss 13formed a housing or protective casing for the entire head. After afinger has been pushed in to an inoperative position, it need only bepushed out again in order to become once mlore effective. ln thearrangement shown, each picker linger head is provided in the outer end,in the space between the prongs, with a tapped hole 18. ln order to pullout a linger that has been pushed back, a simple pulling tool may bescrewed into the tapped hole and serve as a means to draw out, thefinger to its normal position.

Foreign matter may enter the opening or bore 15 around the sides of thepicker finger head. ln order 'that such foreign matter' may escapewithout entering the bearing, a discharge outlet or port 19 whichextends from the bore 15, at the rear end of the picker finger head,down through the bottom of the cone 13 may be provided. Consequently,any dirt or other foreign matter' that passes in behind the head willwork its way out through the hole or port 19.

It will thus be seen that we have produced a simple and novel pickerunit, whereby cotton may effectively be picked without injury to theplant and without collecting green leaves along with the cotton; whichcannot easily be injured in service; and which, be-

Y cause of the absence of bearing surfaces that must be greased oroiled, insure that no oil will collect in or on the cotton that is beingpicked.

While we have illustrated and described with particularity only a singlepreferred form of our invention, we do not desire to be limited to theexact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend tocover Y all forms and arrangements which come with- 2. A picker fingercomprising a cylindrical head, two hook-shaped prongs projecting fromthe head and following the cylindrical contour of the head extended, theangular width of each prong being approximately 180O at the base anddecreasing gradually toward the points, the points only of the hooksbeing bent inwardly away from said cylindrical contour and alsodownwardly toward the head.

3. A picker finger comprising a head, two

hook-shaped prongs rising from the head, the angular width of each prongbeing approximately 180 at the base and decreasing gradually toward thepoint, the outer faces of the prongs lying substantially in acylindrical surface coaxial with the linger excepting at the points, andthe rear edges of the lower halves of the prongs being substantiallystraight, the points being deflected slightly inwardly from suchsurface.

4. A picker unit comprising a long stem, a short head member on one endof the stem, a short cylindrical driving member on the other end of thestem, one of said members being integral with the stem and the otherbeing fixed to the stem, and a long bearing sleeve of anti-frictionmaterial surrounding the stem between said members.

5. A picker unit comprising a long stem, a short head member on one endof the stem, a short cylindrical driving member on the other end of thestem, one of said members being integral with the stem and the otherbeing fixed to the stem, and a long bearing sleeve of wood surroundingthe stem between said members.

In testimony whereof, we sign this speciication.

GEORGE R. MEYERCORD. OLIN H. BASQUIN.

